Exploring Black feminist ethnographic methods: group care antenatal and postnatal body mapping sessions with Black and South Asian women in England

In the UK, Black, South Asian and other racially and ethnically minoritised women often report poorer experiences and mistrust in reproductive and maternity health care services. Anthropological ethnographies capturing lives of ethnic minority pregnant women and mothers in the UK are limited. In an exploration of Black feminist methodology, we reflect on the adoption of the creative, arts-based methods of body mapping within the context of a nested ethnography as part of the multinational group care implementation study, Group Care in the First 1000 Days (GC_1000). Weaving together narratives of researcher reflexivity, fieldnotes, interviews and women's body map compositions, we explore with depth women's experiences of pregnancy, birth and motherhood in the context of group care.